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Weekly Beluga Insights

This week it seems the market found its local bottom, with Bitcoin bouncing between $81k-$85k and the aggregated market cap of altcoins stabilizing around $800B. Relatively speaking, this was a quieter week than the craziness we’ve had to start this year off, but some really important developments happened. Perhaps most importantly, Donald Trump spoke at the Blockworks Digital Asset Summit yesterday. If you were looking at the charts you probably would have thought he announced something negative for the industry, but the reality is anything but: he reiterated his support for the space as well as his continued focus on stablecoin regulation.

For a while, crypto outsiders tried to paint the picture that crypto was aiming to replace the financial system as we know it, including the US dollar. The reality of course is quite the opposite, and looking at the data it seems one of the strongest areas of PMF for crypto is the proliferation of the dollar. According to data from DefiLlama, stablecoin issuance recently reached a new ATH of $230B — that’s a quarter of a trillion dollars worth of stablecoins, all onchain. The future of crypto relies on uniquely solving problems that exist in the real world, and global-instant settlement of financial assets is clearly one of them.

Major Movers of the Week

Public Trading Wallet Update

The value of the Beluga trading wallet has risen ~5% since our update last week, mostly driven by the PLUME rally which currently trades just under $0.20, up over 50% from our entry a few weeks ago.* We’re still waiting on Plume’s mainnet, but their timing in the market with attention shifting to RWA’s as well as the myriad partnerships bringing institutions and their assets onchain means Plume will likely be a hot conversation in the market for some time.

I also want to call attention to BEETS, which is one of the more recent additions to the portfolio yet is down significantly since we bought. I certainly timed the trade wrong, but with the Sonic ecosystem picking up how it is I’m more bullish than ever on Beethoven. The thesis here was that for its TVL and role within the Sonic ecosystem, BEETS is trading at a ridiculously low valuation. As Sonic continues to grow, its main LSD protocol should benefit in an outsized manner — Andre Cronje, DeFi legend and CTO of Sonic, tweeted this week with a huge endorsement for the BeethovenX protocol and the team behind it, which further cements its spot as the top protocol on the chain. In my opinion, it’s just a matter of time until we see BEETS rip.

Tweet of the Week

The mysterious bear whale that crypto Twitter tried to hunt this week of course turned out to be a convicted criminal and fraudster who has stolen millions in the past. He’s not an insider, just a criminal gambling with funds that weren’t his in the first place.

Recent Beluga Content

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Disclaimer

The content on this site is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. While Beluga strives to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of information, there may be discrepancies when comparing our data to that of financial institutions, service providers, or specific product websites. Always consult with a professional before making any financial decisions.

Will McKinnon is the Head of Content for Beluga and has spent every day for many years trading coins. For that reason there are too many to name, however his largest holdings by a significant margin are Ethereum and Bitcoin. NFA DYOR

*Plume is an official partner of Beluga.